Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace are set to return tonight, both will see limited time and come off the bench.
Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace were full participants in Thursday’s workout at the practice facility, and coach John Kuester is cautiously optimistic that both would be available for the game.
Kuester said both players looked good, but because they have missed so much time, they will come off the bench whenever they return.
“With both of those guys, they’ll come off the bench,” Kuester said after Thursday’s practice. “They’ve been out the past two weeks, or close to two weeks for Stuckey, and that’s what we’re going to do right now.”
Stuckey has missed six games since he collapsed and was carried from Quicken Loans Arena on a stretcher wearing an oxygen mask during a loss at Cleveland on March 5.
He has undergone a battery of tests looking for any potential life-threatening condition, but all tests have come back negative. He has been cleared to return to the team.
Wallace has missed eight games because of a sore right patellar tendon.
Stuckey declined to speak with reporters Thursday, other than to say, “I’m good” as he left the practice floor.
Considering the scare caused by Stuckey’s collapse two weeks ago, Kuester admitted that whenever Stuckey checks in, that scene will be in the back of his mind.
Welcome back chiefs
Stucktacular and TreBENdous
dont miss the joe dumars interview. it’s the first time he’s done a in depth q&a like this in 6 months.
my three favorite quotes are:
KL: Ben Gordon played extremely well early in the season, until that first ankle injury. We know he’s 26, we know his best years should still be ahead of him. How do you evaluate Ben and are your expectations for him any different than when you signed him last July?
JD: After the first 25 games, it just appeared that from his injury and all the other injuries, he’s never been able to find that same rhythm He had five incredible years of work. I don’t think you discard that body of work because of an injury-plagued season.
KL: I’ll ask you much the same question about Charlie Villanueva.
JD: lot of nights, Charlie’s been hurting out there. He’s laboring up and down the court, yet he’s staying out on the floor.
KL: You haven’t been in this position since your first year as president, and by that I mean by the two-thirds point of the season it had become pretty clear that you weren’t going to be in the playoffs. Has that changed at all the way you spend your time at this time of year?
JD: Where in the past, I was evaluating our team and how we were going to do first round, second round, third round. Now I’m evaluating who makes the cut going forward with us – who we can continue to build with, who we probably have to part ways with.
* * *
Here’s how I read this interview. Ben Gordon and Charlie V are here to stay. Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have played so incredibly well this year that Joe Dumars is reluctant to trade them for peanuts.
We have a complete cluster-mess up in the small forward and shooting guard. We got to get rid of players, Stuckey, Rip, Ben Gordon, and at small foward same problem, Daye, Jerebko, Tayshuan, Summers, and like it or not Charlie V who plays the power forward like a small man.
To me it’s clear what Joe D has to do. He has to trade Rip & Tayshaun, keep Ben Gordon and Charlie V on the bench where they belong, and obtain three new players. Ben Wallace is too old to play center, it’s not that old players suck, but that they get injured. So we need a center, power forward and point guard to compliment Stuckey & Jerebko.
What will probably happen next year is we will continue to have a complete mess at shooting guard and small forward, and obtain a decent power forward from the lottery.
It seems from the interview that Joe D is expecting Ben Gordon and Charlie V to grow into the salaries that we pay them.
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/dumars_100317.html
I don’t think it’s entirely up to Joe what happens, because trades are also dependent upon other teams and who they want. Also, what the other teams will give in return. I think if Joe was offered a good value for Charlie or BG, they’d be gone in a heartbeat!
He should keep at least one of those veterans around. When they play healthy, they really anchor the team.
I can see tay going but rip gordon and CV just have terrible contracts and would be hard to move. It wouldn’t surprise me if stuck or will are moved. Will is a FA as well.